What is the distinction between consciousness and object of consciousness?

Matter cannot observe itself so a mind is required.

The fundamental divide in the universe is one of mind vs matter as you’ve identified in your question. Mind and matter are both different sides of the same coin philosophically speaking, you can’t have one without the other.

All experiences entail mind experiencing matter, if there’s no matter there’s simply nothing to experience, likewise without mind, matter cannot have an existence.

In the absence of mind, all matter is at best just a cloud of atoms, stray particles and molecules, but when they encounter a mind they are suddenly a rock, or a lake, a mountain, a car or a building as predicated by their pattern or the arrangement of their atoms into a form recognisable by mind.

Matter needs to be experienced in order to have an existence, mind needs matter to experience in order to have the sensation of existence which fundamentally is consciousness.

In short consciousness can be defined as the sensation of existence, or more accurately the observations of material changes over time via sensory input.

What’s interesting here is that if it were possible to experience the same sensation forever that would be exactly the same as no sensation.

Sensations are like waves in the sense that they have peaks and troughs, highs and lows that alternate back and forth for as long as the sensation is present, it’s this alternating change that we experience whenever we encounter anything giving rise to a perception of that pattern within our awareness of self.

We don’t tend to dwell on familiar patterns for too long, something new however gets our full attention at least until we’ve experienced it enough that it becomes familiar and as such less of a threat to our survival that we don’t need to pay it too much attention any more.

This is why we get bored with listening to the same music over time or watching the same shows, or walking the same route every day, catching the same bus etc.

If you want to the opportunity to monitor your consciousness directly then find something new to do and watch your mind as you do so.